"To restore and conserve fish, wildlife and habitat throughout the state and teach others to do the same."

Because feelings run so deep in the wildlife and environmental arena we are making this a "moderated" blog. All comments will be read by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy before being posted. Please keep your comments factual, smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

If you aren’t receiving our newsletter, The Wildlife
Volunteer, you may want to.Our
January-February issue will concentrate especially on the Great Lakes and some
of the threats to them.We had three
wonderful and talented journalists from the Great Lakes region write articles
for us that will open your eyes to issues that you may not have known about and
the extent of these challenges.Eric
Sharp, Jeff Alexander and Dave Dempsey have graciously agreed to write on
topics that range from invasive species to water levels to pollution from our
very own sewage plants.

If you would like to request a copy of our newsletter to see
what our newsletter has to offer, please contact me at wildlife@miwildlife.org with your
name, address and email address.One
copy per family, please.

$40 a year is all it takes to become a member of the
Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and receive 6 issues of our newsletter, The
Wildlife Volunteer.Our membership and
newsletter is a great gift for adults and environmentally concerned citizens of
Michigan.Each issue has interesting articles
that focus on Michigan issues, native animals and exotic species.

Friday, December 23, 2011

When I see wasps, I say to myself “Stay Away!”But after reading an article this morning I
have gained a little respect for the little creature.This is why:

Researchers
have found that wasps that live in hierarchal colonies use facial recognition
to recognize friends and foes.Wasps
that do not live in colonies have the ability but it is not as fine tuned as
the colonized wasps.

The Study:

Researchers
printed out pictures of insects, shapes and other species and put them in a
maze.Each photo would represent a path
and to get to the end of the maze our stingy little friend would have to follow
the right photo.They found that the
wasps recognized the photos of their fellow wasps.When the pictures of the wasps were altered
slightly, the wasps in the maze found it harder to go through the maze.

Another
trait found in wasps was the trait of aggression.When these wasps did not recognize a face
they became agitated and more aggressive.

Perhaps we
should smile next time we see a wasp.It
would be a lot less painful if they don’t sting us.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Have you ever considered that burning trash could serve as
an alternative energy source?Michigan
has.

Kent county is home to Covanta Kent Inc. a waste-to-fuel
facility.Built in 1990 it receives
trash from Grand Rapids and surrounding areas, recycles what it can and burns
the safe waste.(Waste that cannot be
burned is sent to a landfill.)

In a 2004 study such facilities were shown to emit carbon
dioxide, but have half of the greenhouse effects of the methane created by a landfill
with equal amounts of waste.

The Michigan Environmental Council would like to see more
effort on the issue of recycling.The
Council supports the waste-to-energy facilities, but feel they don’t do a good
enough job recycling.According to Hugh
McDiarmid, Communications Director of MEC, these waste facilities’ incinerators
compete with recycling programs.

Please see attached link for the full article and let us
know what you think.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Texas has the largest wild hog population in the U.S. with about 2.6 million roaming that state. In response to the $500 million in annual damages to crops, fences, roads, and livestock caused by the hogs, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is providing grants to counties for wild hog abatement. The funds can be used for education or programs that directly reduce hog number. Each year, the five counties that can document the most wild hogs eliminated and/or the most participants at TDA- approved education programs focusing on wild hog abatement get grants ranging from $7,500 to $20,000. Would this kind of grant program make sense for Michigan?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

In the last year, more than 150 volunteers have been
trained to assist biologists and technicians in the Michigan Wild Hog Removal
Program.The effort is a partnership of
the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with
support from the Michigan Pork Producers Association, the Michigan Corn Growers
Association, the Michigan Forest Association, and others.

Volunteers have received instructions on trapping
procedures as well as the biology and impacts of wild hogs at sessions held at
several locations around the state.NOW, THE SAME TRAINING IS AVAILABLE ON THE
MICHIGAN WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY’S WEB SITE, WWW.MIWILDLIFE.ORG.

The entire training session takes less than one hour
to view.This information is valuable to
anyone wanting to learn more about wild hogs and the threat they pose to
Michigan.